Friday, October 31, 2014

This was the easiest and most comfortable costume I ever put together/wore for Halloween. The only thing I had to buy was the black tights. How cool is that? Plus, I already have the sullen expression so it's like I was born to be Wednesday Addams.

I got my own haul of candy, too. Partly because I'm as tall as my kid so I guess people thought I was also a kid out trick-or-treating. And partly because some people thought it was cool that I dressed up because not all parents bother to. And some had too much candy and too few trick or treaters. I didn't know this was an issue?

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

It's Halloween week. So, naturally I thought I would post some festive weirdness. These things reinforce my belief that there's a lot of weird in the world and Jim Morrison was right when he sang, "People Are Strange".

Some take an ordinary pumpkin and transform it into a Jack-O-Lantern work of art. And then there are those who take carving to a whole other level. Check out these weird pumpkin masterpieces.

Am I the only one who thought of Mike Wazowski from "Monsters, Inc."? Probably.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Non-d peeps, this post is about diabetes. Just putting that out there in case you've come for some laughs and feel like you stumbled into something way serious. But I encourage you to stick around anyway. Maybe learn something new. Or have a cookie. Chips Ahoy chocolate chip. Two cookies = 24 carbs. I think. I get them and another brand confused.

Why do I mention cookies and carbs? Because today for Fearless Friday I am spotlighting someone who is making it his fearless mission on twitter to educate the misinformed regarding type 1 diabetes.

His name is @darthskeptic and I "met" him through the Diabetes Online Community. He's a type 1 diabetic (obviously) with a great sense of humor and an encyclopedic amount of knowledge regarding the carb count of foods. I'm certain that if there was a diabetes version of Jeopardy he would win hands down and probably beat the pants off Ken Jennings. Ew, okay, bad analogy.

Sadly, his tweets despite being informative are often met with sarcasm and anger or ignored all together. Sadder still is just how much inaccuracy is still out in the world regarding this disease with the most widely held myth still being that sugar and sugar-related foods cause diabetes. It doesn't. But no matter how far this disease has come in medical and technological advancements it is still regarded as the 'sugar disease'. Darthskeptic is working to change that. But he doesn't do it in a mean-spirited way although there is a hint of sarcasm there. I've read some of the stupid tweets he replies to and believe me, he is being nice.

So, if you ever tweet about some delicious chocolate cake you just ate and reference getting diabetes from it, don't be surprised if you get a reply from him informing you otherwise.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

So I started thinking about cars back then and cars now and seriously, classic cars were so much cooler back in the day. They looked badass and had tough names like GTO, T-bird, and Dart.

Now we have cars with tame names like Encore and Cadenza. Can you just see Vin Diesel tearing it up down the road in a Versa Note? No so much Fast & Furious as it is Slow & Steady.

Not that I'm making fun of these cars. I'm sure they're good vehicles and as long as you can get from Point A to Point B in one piece and with as little aggravation as possible it's all good. I just prefer muscle cars with kick-ass names. My first car was a Mustang. I also owned a Camaro (which my son was delighted to find out) and a Grand Am GT. These days I drive a sensible car, not because I want to but because it's what I can afford. My dream car is a yellow and black trim Camaro that I will happily name Bumblebee. I'll even take the '76 version, I'm not picky. And if he turned out to be an Autobot, well that would be a bonus.

I think all households have some variation of this kinda like Taco Tuesday. It's something fun and gives everyone the kids me something to look forward to. I'm not quite sure how or when this got started in my family but I do recall one memorable Friday-pizza night when I was little.

We were at my grandparents' house waiting for the pizza delivery guy. It seemed to be taking longer than usual and my grandfather was getting impatient. Grandma called to check on the status and was told our pies were en route. So Grandpa decided to go wait out on the porch and told me to come with him. It was like a covert pizza sting operation. After five minutes we moved our base of operations to the street where I guess Grandpa was going to wait for the guy and grab his food to save time.

Suddenly we saw a pizza delivery guy across the street. Grandpa started yelling at him that he was at the wrong place, while also whispering to me that the guy was either new or an idiot. So, the delivery guy comes running across the street. He hands Grandpa our pies, we pay him and head inside to eat.

In between bites, Grandpa told everyone how the pizza guy was obviously lost but thankfully we saw him and managed to get our food before it got cold. It was everything a good pizza should be. Hot and cheesy and delicious. Sure our plain pie had mushrooms on it, but occasionally we ordered one with mushrooms so we forgave this mistake. After all, the pepperoni one was correct. Maybe the place was having an unusually busy night and got our order mixed up.

Halfway through the meal the doorbell rang. It was a pizza delivery man. With our pizzas. Seems the first delivery guy was at the right address and we were eating someone else's pizzas.

I told Bill this story and he rolled his eyes and said, "Now I know where you get it from!"

"My love of pizza?" I asked.

"No, your hunger induced impatience."

May I remind you who drove you to Papa John's to pick up his pizza rather than wait for delivery, Bill?

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Today is our wedding anniversary. That's 18 years of dreams, laughter and love. And since I'm a fan of all things Pop Culture I thought the best way to celebrate would be with this TV theme song, which I found to be quite appropriate. (I also loved this show back then) For those who were also fans, I included the music and lyrics. Enjoy!

Growing Pains ThemeShow me that smile againOh, show me that smileDon't waste another minute on your cryingWe're nowhere near the endThe best is ready to begin

As long as we've got each otherWe've got the world spinning right in our hands

Baby you and meWe've gotta beThe luckiest dreamers who never quit dreaming

As long as we keep on livingWe can take anything that comes our wayBaby rain or shineAll the timeWe've got each otherSharing the laughter and loveSharing the laughter and love

Thursday, October 2, 2014

This is one of three Haunted Houses being set-up near where I live. So, naturally, I got out of my car and took a pic which I posted to Facebook specifically for one of my friends who has a fear of clowns. (Just so you know, I did this in jest and she took it as such. I'm not a complete meanie.)

I remember seeing the flyers advertising this huge Halloween attraction and so I did some googling research. Two of the houses are your run-of-the-mill spooky haunts. People in ripped/bloody/scary clothes acting out all kinds of horror shows. The above is called "Circus of Horrors"and the other is called "Castle Vampyre".

The husband is all over this shit. Me? No. Hell, no. Read on.

Then there's the third Haunted House called, "The Gates of Hell". Of course with a name like that, how could I resist? (That's sarcasm, there). But wait, it gets better. The sub-heading is called, "The Victim Experience II" because last year's "Victim Experience I" was such a huge hit with all the scare lovers!

Now, let's take a closer look at this and see exactly why, even if I wasn't such a Scaredy McFraidypants I will NOT be going. GoH is rated R for mature audiences. (Who you callin' mature??) And, there's a list of rules and regulations. The big one is that in buying the tickets and entering you are allowing the actors to not only violate your personal space but to get handsy because you are after all, the Victim. There's even a safe word! So, thanks, but no thanks. The closest I get to any of this is reading about it from the safety of my own weird little home.

Considering how de-sensitized to violence our society has become, this really does sound brilliant. Not enough to make me go, but still.

I've always thought it would be cool to be an actor in a haunted house. I know, this makes no sense because I'm not a fan of them as a 'guest' but I think actually doing the scaring is a different matter. I know this makes me a loser in that whole 'you can dish it out but you can't take it' way. However, to be fair, I have gone to my share of haunted houses in the past. I always got picked on, too, despite the brave "you can't scare me" face I put on. Maybe because I was the shortest?

When it comes to candy, that's a different matter. On Halloween I go right up to the front door no matter how spooky the houses are decorated. I won't let a little scare keep me from my sweets, I mean, keep my kid from his treats.

In New Jersey, there was a house around the corner from where we lived that went all out one Halloween. They would "plant" actors to stand on line with you (yes, there was a line it was that popular) as you waited to get candy. Then the other characters would periodically drag these actors away seemingly against their will. It was scary and cool at the same time.

Who out there is skeered of haunted houses and who loves to get the crap scared outta them?

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

And here we are at October 1st already. Even though candy, costumes and pumpkins have been in the stores for a few weeks, I usually don't feel the Halloween spirit until October.

I'm not big on the scary Halloween stuff like horror movies. I prefer the "family-friendly" films. One of my all time favorite TV shows/movies is The Addams Family. So, because of this and the time of year it is, I took a "Which Addams Family Member Are You?" quiz. I was not surprised by the results.

You are:

Morticia Addams

Morticia is described as avamp; she is slim, with extremely pale skin and long flowing straight black hair. She commonly wears blackgothicdresses to match her hair, tightly form fitting, with ahobble skirt. According to Wednesday, Morticia appliesbaking powderto her face instead of actual makeup. In each episode, she easily allures her husband Gomez by speakingFrench(or any other foreign language for that matter). Morticia is musically inclined, and is often seen freely strumming a Japaneseshamisen. She frequently enjoys cutting the buds off of roses which she discards (keeping only the stems), likes cutting out paper dolls with three heads and making sweaters with three arms, collecting the mail from the hand-in-the-boxThing, and cooking unusual concoctions for her husband; including eye of newt. She also has acarnivorous plant, an African Strangler named Cleopatra, which she enjoys feeding. Morticia also has an affinity for making certain that her family upholds the traditional Addams way, and is usually the most taken aback when one of the clan goes astray and does something "pleasant."

I'm far from a vamp but I do like vampires. I'm not as slim as I once was, but then again, who is? Considering I live in a sunny climate my skin is not pale but I do have straight, black hair (with some grey in it). I wear more color in my wardrobe than I used to but I still have more than enough black.

I don't speak French but I do hope to visit Paris one day and I can still allure my husband, which might be mistaken for nagging, but still.

I'm not musically inclined unless you count my iPod or the Pandora app on my phone. I don't have a green thumb which explains why my roses end up like Morticia's. I don't knit but I imagine if I did my sweaters would come out with three arms as well.

I wouldn't mind a hand-in-the-box Thing getting my mail for me. And I certainly wouldn't protest Thing giving me a hand (pun intended) in the kitchen. Hold the eye of newt, please, but pass the Strawberry Newtons.

I also love our little family traditions like the annual viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". If only I had a big wicker chair to sit in while watching.